About the Film

I spent two months filming Jayden, at home with his parents, Anne and Benny, and at school with his teachers. As I immersed myself in Jayden’s world, my crew and I were able to document the seemingly small challenges and successes of Jayden’s daily life as a recently diagnosed toddler. We saw adults working intensely with him toward basic milestones — responding to his name, making eye contact, pointing at objects he wanted, learning to say the word “bye” — and we came to identify with Jayden at the same time. The resulting footage provided the raw material for many suspenseful and compelling scenes and a natural narrative arc. In letting go of my original “big picture” goals and letting the storyteller in me win out, I ended up making a film that drives my message home better than I could have imagined.

Autism is an urgent and growing public health crisis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently estimate that one in 110 children have the disorder, and the challenges of diagnosing and treating it are immense. Media attention and awareness have increased significantly over the past decade, but there has been virtually no coverage of autism’s impact on low-income children and families. Without awareness, there is no early diagnosis. Without diagnosis, successful treatment is nearly impossible. To read more about this film on the Point of View website, visit:http://www.pbs.org/pov/bye/

About the Filmmaker

A native of Chicago, Anthony Morrison currently resides in New York City, where he received a bachelor of fine arts from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He is the recipient of Cinereach’s Reach Film Fellowship and a 2010 Reach Out Award.